Nico racks up the miles: Rosberg does the hard yards as Mercedes battle to make up lost ground

Workhorse: Nico Rosberg clocked up the miles during Thursday morning's test session at Jerez (Image: PA)

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team battled to get their testing programme back on track as teammate Nico Rosberg thundered up the lap count.

But it appeared to be McLaren’s turn to struggle with the technicalities of their new car as Jenson Button did just 21 laps in the morning of his second day in the car.

After two disastrous days in which they covered less than 30 laps and suffered a brake failure, a crash, smashed front wing, electrical problems and even a fire the young German ended the morning of the first day at the lead of the lap tally.

Rosberg completed 47 laps and was second only to Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on the time sheets.

After two disastrous days Hamilton said that the team needed to be pounding out more than 100 laps a day Thursday and Friday to make up the lost ground.

Massa, the fastest driver so far, was the first lap in a sub 1m 18s time.

That mark was reached on Monday by pacesetter Jenson Button and Tuesday by Roman Grosjean of Lotus.

The W04 was put through its paces with temporary fixes on the hydraulic system which caused Hamilton’s accident Wednesday.

Fun in the sun: Nico Rosberg in action during the morning testing session at Jerez (Image: PA)

Back at the team factory in Brackley engineers and designers are working on a permanent fix to the system for the next test in Barcelona next week.

And beyond that they are looking for massive improvements in the aerodynamics after Hamilton told the team the new Mercedes does not even have the aero grip of last year’s McLaren.

The biggest drama of the first day came in the Force India pit

Test driver James Rossiter missed his braking point at a pit stop and crashed into the mechanic holding the front jack and sent him spinning into the air.

The man, who has not been named, escaped serious injury and was treated at the circuit medical centre.

Force India reported he was “bruised but shaken”.

The car was undamaged and Rossiter was able to continue testing but he was scheduled to hand the car back to Paul di Resta for the afternoon of the third and penultimate day.